#SL Mesh Deformer Debate Update

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There was lots of debate on the Mesh Deformer and whether it should have a single default shape as the basis for deformation calculations or whether it should have multiple base shapes. That question is still undecided. Discussion has kinda died down, at least in my circles.

If you are unaware of the sides of the debate, see: The Great #SL Deformer Debate.

Open Source Meeting

Questions

One of the prime questions I asked in the article is how it will be funded. That is not likely to be a problem.

Another problem is what it would cost to add the capability. Emma Gilmour asked Qarl what it would cost, not that much. We are certain we can raise the needed money in a very short time. We have almost half of it covered now.

So, a couple of questions are down and the possibility becomes much more likely.

And the Lab…

The next challenge is where are we with the Lab and Avatar 2.0?

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Singularity Viewer Update

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The Singularity Viewer team has been quite and it has been some time since we saw a version release. Work is proceeding and we got a bit of information from Siana Gearz, the managing developer.

Well, the question when it’s coming is something we’re trying to figure out too. What can be said though is that we abandoned non-multiwearable branch recently and all work is being done for multiwearable release. Also we are reorganizing ourselves, i want the team to share the management duties and not just me alone cause my availability can be very mixed. Abandoning half of my life and all of my Second Life for Singularity was not a very awesome plan in the long run i suppose.

Reference SLUniverse: Singularity Viewer

It’s lots of work releasing a viewer. The time to a new release also depends the time developers have available to work on the project. Working on a viewer means one is not in Second Life. I can see it turning into work.

#SL News Week 22

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We have a bit more news on this week’s roll outs to the Release Channels. Actually some BIG news.

[youtube mGPiywc6Hh0]

More information below the fold.

Blue Steel

This channel will be updated Thursday instead of Wednesday. The package will contain an avatar render change. The avatars in the Library will now have pre-baked textures.

You probably know that the viewer downloads all the textures worn by an avatar and bakes them intop a composite texture. So, skin, tattoos, alpha layers, undershirt, and shirt layers are baked into a composite. That is uploaded to SL and is the image others download. Even you download a copy, which is why you see your avatar start blurry then render crisp, which is the end of the bake, then go blurry and then hopefully crisp again.

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The Reason Why

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How many times have you heard people say something like: I don’t know why people… add in your verbs of choice here.

Using the Global warming debate, Yale did a study to find out why people remain so divided. Is it because they don’t understand the science? Can’t do the math?

The study published in the journal Nature Climate Change asks the question: If Americans knew more basic science and were more proficient in technical reasoning, would public consensus match scientific consensus? The study suggests the answer is: no. 

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#SL Server News Week 21

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I’m a bit behind on general news.

Servers

Andrew Linden has been gone on vacation this week. Simon Linden facilitated the User Group. He says they are expecting to roll the Threaded Region Crossing code to the main grid this coming Tuesday. This is code they have been bouncing in and out of the Release Channels (RC) since February. Getting it to the main grid is a significant step.

Once Threaded Region Crossing code is in place effort can concentrate on Phase II of Region Crossing. It is only in Phase II that users will start to see changes in crossing performance. You may not know that significant region lag is caused by avatars exiting regions. The rumor is most of that lag has been eliminated in Phase II code. That should make a significant difference in region performance for events and other crowded regions.

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Blender 2.63 Import Problem

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Drongle McMahon has been posting this information around. Seems there is a problem when importing mesh into Second Life.

In case anyone else gtets into a mess with this …

Th name of an imported mesh in SL is taken from the “name” attribute of the <geometry> tag defining the mesh. Im Blender 2.49b, the exporter took this attribute from the Blender object name. Unfortunately, in Blender 2.63 it is taken instead from the data block. This means that renaming your objects so that they have reasonable names sfter import is no longer effective. Instead you have to rename the data blocks. You can do that in Outline view or in the property editor for object data (the inverted triangle of vertices).

If you use the same datablock for multiple objects, the exporter uses instancing, with the geometry appearing only once in the collada file, referenced in multiple nodes of the scene, each with their own transformations. Unfortunately, the uploader does not use instancing (although it does reads it properly from the collada). Instead, it ulpoads separate meshes. Since only one of these can use the dtablock name, the others appear to be renamed to “Object”.

Gaia Clary points out in a follow up post that the problem is being fixed in Blender 2.64. See her post.

This issue has been “fixed” by adding a new select option.In fact i believe that the SL Importer takes the Object name from the wrong place. It should use the information provided in the visual scene description. But well…

The new option will be available in Blender 2.64.